An Appeals Court Strikes Down “Woke Rules”

There was a major victory over “woke public policy” with a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down a “woke” NASDAQ rule. NASDAQ stands for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system. NASDAQ is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. NASDAQ provides a platform for trading shares of companies. Some of the companies listed on NASDAQ are: Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a government agency that regulates the trading of securities. The SEC was established by Congress in 1933 to set up rules and regulations to protect the public from many of the swindles that had occurred in the early 1900’s. Congress realized that unless rules were enacted to protect the public, the public would not have confidence in the trading of securities. Congress realized that in order for America to have a strong economy, the public would have to be able to trade with confidence in public securities. 

In 1975, Congress amended the SEC Act to create a national system for clearing trades in stocks, bonds and other securities. This amendment included language that required any market organization, such as NASDAQ, would have to have its rules approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This amendment to the SEC Act showed that Congress was focused on making the stock exchanges run fairly and efficiently. Congress never expressed any intent to have rules regarding social issues. 

This was all well and good until Biden, Kamala and the Democrats decided that wokeism was needed. In late 2020, the NASDAQ, in order to curry favor with the Democrats, enacted rules that required corporations listed on the exchange to disclose the diversity of their board of directors based on race, sexual orientation and gender. These rules required that boards that failed to employ at least 2 diverse directors would have to explain why they were lacking in diversity. 

This is not a joke. The woke Democrats wanted every company to have at least 2 diverse directors. One gay and one black got you off the hook. 2 women got you off the hook. 1 transgender and one Native American got you off the hook.

In order for the NASDAQ rule to be implemented, it had to be approved by Biden’s SEC. Of course, the SEC, with a majority of Democrats, approved the rule. 

Eventually, the rule was appealed in the federal court system. Recently, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the rule was not within the purview that the SEC was given by Congress. The Court determined that diversity rules were not within the statutory purposes for which Congress had established the SEC. The legal precedent has been established for decades that government agencies cannot make rules that impact areas for which Congress has not given the agencies oversight. 

The Court noted that the SEC had not proven how rules about how many gay people were on a corporate board would affect competition in trading securities.

Of course, 2 transgender persons on a board does not make the trading of securities more efficient or less susceptible to fraud. 

This court case and Trump’s election will make it more difficult for governmental agencies to mandate “woke rules.” If a corporation wishes to focus on diversity while not discriminating against any Americans, they can do so but they should not be forced to do so by the government. 

This absurd rule is just one example of how government leftist bureaucrats have infiltrated our daily lives. This is also the reason that Trump is very careful to appoint conservatives to his administration that will not allow the bureaucrats and Democrats to screw up our country with absurd “woke rules.”